10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween (1978)

In her first ever feature film role, Jamie Lee Curtis absolutely slays it as Laurie Strode. You don't get to be known as the ruling scream queen for decades without a reason, and boy oh boy, does Curtis give oodles of reasons here.

From her introduction into the film, she imbues Laurie as the quintessential girl-next-door. She's shy, pretends to not care about the more social activities her best friends, but is ultimately just too afraid to reveal how much she cares. She's infinitely relatable and that's all thanks to Curtis' performance.

In writing the script for Halloween, Carpenter split writing duties with producer and all-around-badass Debra Hill. Carpenter took the Dr. Loomis dialogue sequences and Hill took the Laurie-and-her-friends scenes. The result is that the camaraderie between Laurie and her friends feels natural rather than superficial. But it would have been so easy to fall into a trap with Laurie, and cast an actress who plays her as overly shy or overly confident. This would have thrown off the balance of the entire dynamic, but Curtis walks the line with finesse to spare.

Even her scenes with the child actors are great, with her getting genuine compassion out of the kids.

And obviously, those screams are royalty. Once the heat turns up, Curtis really delivers, selling Strode as a protective babysitter just trying to survive and save the kids. And notably, one of the strongest moments of acting from Curtis' entire career is the final shot of her in this film as she just lets Laurie's pent-up emotions loose.